This invention relates generally to medical electronic devices for analysis of auscultatory cardiac sounds. More particularly, this invention relates to a method for recording, analyzing and audiovisual representation of heart sounds at the point of care, in humans, to enable differential diagnosis.
Auscultatory sounds have long been the primary inputs to aid in the detection of various physiological conditions. For instance the stethoscope is the primary tool used by a clinician to monitor heart sounds to detect and diagnose the condition of a subject's heart. Auscultation itself is extremely limited by a number of factors. It is extremely subjective and largely depends on the clinician's expertise in listening to the heart sounds and is compounded by the fact that certain components of the heart sounds are beyond the gamut of the human ear. In addition, auscultation relies on correctly determining which of the primary heart sounds correspond to the systole diastolic phase of the heart. This is made more difficult when ectopic beats occur.
A number of improvements have been developed to circumvent such bottlenecks, ranging from relatively noise-free electronic auscultation, to complex computer algorithms that can analyze the cardiac sounds, calculate various numerical values like heart rate, ascertain the heart sound phases etc. For example, algorithms are available that allow heart sounds in electronic format to be visualized on a personal computer screen and analyzed.
Accordingly, personal computer (PC) based auscultatory devices like the Acoustic Cardioscan from Zargis Medical Corporation of Stamford, Conn., and software packages like the Veteran Phonocardiograph monitor from BioSignetics Corporation of Exeter, N.H., are capable of a wide range of operations and manipulations of heart sounds offline. However, the above described PC based platforms suffer from the following shortcomings and bottlenecks. These PC based systems call for a separate data gathering device to record heart sounds in the format that can be processed by the PC based algorithm. In addition, there is a critical time delay between the time the clinician auscultates the subject and the time the clinician applies the PC based analysis to the recorded heart sounds. There are also portability issues associated with the PC based system setup.
Currently, handheld auscultatory devices have been developed in an attempt to circumvent some of the above described problems with PC based computer systems. These handheld devices do incorporate the data gathering mechanism in the device itself, obviating the need for separate data gathering. Handheld devices sold under the brand names Cadiscope (from Caditec AG Medical Instruments of Switzerland) and the Visual Stethoscope (from MC21 Meditech Group) are instances of such handheld auscultatory devices. However handheld devices have their own shortcomings. For example, some handheld devices are designed such that the chest piece is housed in the device itself thereby rendering sterilization processes difficult, or at least call for involved and expensive methods of cleaning. Further, the mere display of the heart sounds or ECG signals, in addition to the audio of the heart sounds is insufficient for the user to ascertain the condition of the heart.
It is therefore apparent that an urgent need exists for an improved auscultatory device that is easy to use, accurate, portable, cost-effective and easy to sterilize and maintain.